Forever Walking
by Hypnotist
Summary: She was a young woman trying to survive, and time always seemed to be running out. When she finds Rick Grimes and together they find a group of survivors, will she find someone worth surviving for? Daryl x OC
1. Chapter 1

The end of the world had not been predicted long before the events occurred which led to the end of the world. In fact, no one really knew it was the end of the world until it was too late to really do anything. The army, I believed at least, knew that the dead weren't staying dead some time before it was announced to the general public, when the truth finally broke out they'd already put several protocols in action, protocols which had been tailored somewhat for the events going on around us.

The infection can be spread by the DNA of one of the zombies entering the human bloodstream- I don't know how much exactly it takes, but what I do know is there has yet to be discovered a cure, once the infection got inside of you…. You were dead.

I believe that the illness originated right here in America. It could've spread any number of ways across the ocean and once it reached Europe, it was only a matter of time before the world 'fell.' It had been the scariest thing I'd ever encountered. First, there were television broadcasts. Then they stopped. Then there were radio broadcasts. Then they stopped. Then there was silence. Constant silence. In some ways the lack of noise was scarier than hearing the world scream on the TV and the radio, at least then I knew that someone was alive out there, that there were still people fighting.

I was a survivor at my core, I'd been an army doctor before I'd served my time and returned home. I had planned to re-join the army but then the world went to shit and I figured, rightfully so, that there was no point in doing so.

The army training was damned useful though. I'd had survival tactics drummed into me. I'd learned how to plan, strategize, shoot long distance with deadly accuracy- along with all the medical training. I'd been trained for dire situations, though, when I'd signed up the direst situations included things like being taken hostage, not the dead coming back to life.

As the death toll rose the army did manage to pull themselves together somewhat. As cities fell one by one, they managed to create a refugee city- a place that people could go to that had been made secure and fort- like. I was very sceptical of the idea. If everyone flocked to the city- a large safe haven of concrete- with shops that catered to people's every need and houses for people to live, the city would not remain large in relation to the population. The safe haven of concrete would not allow for cultivation when the tinned food ran out and so people would need to leave the city and with each person who left the city the risk of getting contaminated would rise. No, the city was not the answer. My family had chosen not to listen to me- I'd proposed that we stayed where we were in King's County, in Georgia. There was plenty of farm land, enough shops to tide us over for a while, until a time where we could grow food enough to keep us alive… also, we had a large amount of weapons in the Sherriff's Station. Hell, I'm from Georgia, we all got guns.

My family- my mother, father, sister and brother, had all left for Atlanta, the so- called safe haven, and they'd left me behind. When the world goes to shit, as it had, people's priorities sometimes change and it becomes very much a situation regarding survival of the fittest. My family felt it was in their best interest to go to the city. I knew it wasn't. Did they listen to reason? No. I mourned their loss but I tried everything to get them to stay and they would not listen. My family figured save who they could- why risk the life of two children when you could mourn the loss of one? Besides, the fact that I'd had survival training had left them with some sort of hope that I would be able to stay alive.

My mother was a delicate soul- she was short with a blond pixie cut when I'd last seen her. My sister had taken after her in looks, both of them maintained sun kissed glows and never burned during the intense heat of Georgia. My brother and I had taken after my father- though I did have my mother's lack of height. My father was a tall man with dark chestnut, curly hair. The three of us were pale, and we all had overactive thyroids which meant we ate whatever we liked and remained skinny, though, with the lack of sufficient food sources I was even thinner than usual. I wasn't really complaining though.

I'd taken to wearing skinny jeans and baggy combat trousers rather than skirts and dresses. I didn't want to leave any part of my body exposed, I didn't fancy the zombie infection despite how fashionable it had become. No doubt next season Victoria's Secret would be advertising their fall line of risqué- zombie looks.

I wore vest tops with shirts over the top which meant protection from contamination, and also layers, if I got to hot I could easily take something off. The clothes were hard wearing and they were good for all sorts of weather. I felt I was onto a winning outfit.

As Zombie populations went Georgia wasn't too bad, especially during the day. For whatever reason, Zombies were more nocturnal creatures, they swarmed places during the night but during the day I'd only see one or two. I figured that to some degree, they were sensitive to bright light and so it was easier to move during the night. I also figured that the cool temperatures also helped, during the day their skin would roast, during the night they kept cool- basic animal like behaviour. During the day they also gave off some sort of an oil that coated their skin which contributed- in no small part to their horrendous stench- even if they weren't dead, like, completely, they smelt it. They had strong senses of sight and hearing- if they heard a loud noise- something along the lines of a gunshot would have zombies swarming from miles around, and that could end extremely badly.

I'd spent my time studying the zombies from afar whenever I could. I'd set up two secure locations on either side of the town- one in the Sherriff's jail, the other in my house. I had tinned food in both, and guns as well. I always carried two bags with me- one filled with food and clothes, the other filled with guns in case I got stuck in a building surrounded by a swarm.

I'd set up a look out on top of one of the buildings opposite the hospital. It'd been a month since the outbreak and I'd come across no other survivors since everyone foolishly left for Atlanta. I always kept look out though- killing a walker whenever I could without making a noise- choosing to use guns with silencers, or whenever possible my dagger. It wasn't hard to kill a zombie, any hit to their brain stopped them stone dead, only they tended to stay dead afterwards.

I was looking through a pair of binoculars when movement to my right caught my eye, "Well that's interesting" I mumbled as I tweaked the binoculars to clear the sight before me. I could see that someone was moving about in one of the rooms but what I couldn't tell was whether he was alive or dead- and- walking. I'd already done a sweep of the hospital, calling out checking if there was anyone still alive on each floor, when I'd received no answer I checked a couple of the rooms but figured everyone was dead. I'd locked a couple of the zombies in the canteen area and painted a warning in case everyone entered the hospital looking for medication.

"Shit!" I hissed when I caught sight of the fact that the man was very much alive as he stumbled around his room. I grabbed my packs and head downstairs and across the road into the hospital. I head straight for the second floor where I'd seen the man and glanced around the room before seeing his chart.

The man was a Deputy Sherriff; he'd been shot in the line of duty and had gone into a coma. I'd hate to be in his situation, waking up to find everyone dead and yet not staying dead. I followed the man's footprints to the canteen I'd locked the zombies in. I grimaced when I saw them trying to claw their way out and get to him. "Hi" I greeted, the man whipped round and fixed me with a hard gaze, "What the fuck is going on here?"

"Ah, pleasant conversation… I'll tell you everything but we need to go somewhere more secure" the man glanced around and, seeing the state that everything was in, gave a sharp nod. As I led him down the stairs and outside he stumbled back as he was hit with the full pelt of the Georgia Sun, I gave him my sunglasses.

"I didn't know you were in there… if I had I would've come- fixed up some of the machinery and made sure to move you around a bit. You're in the pain you're in because no one's exercised you for about a month"

"A month?"

"You've been in a coma" I stated, "I looked at your chart when I came to find you. I'm sorry" I couldn't afford to wait for the man to take in what I'd said, I merely kept going and hoped that he was following. When I finally did turn I saw him looking at all the bodies that I had placed in the grounds of the hospital- the army had started to do it but they'd perished before too long.

I was planning to take him to my base at the Sherriff's station but as we got closer, he began to direct me towards where I assumed his house was.

"My name's Robyn by the way"

"Rick" I nodded and continued to follow him until we reached his house.


	2. Chapter 2

I secured the perimeter and then waited outside whilst Rick mourned the loss of his family. It was no easy thing losing your family but I imagined that things were much worse for Rick, given that he'd gone to sleep and then woken up to find the world around him an unfamiliar place.

He stumbled out and I glanced at him to check that he was okay, "They're alive" he mumbled taking a seat next to me, "How do you know? I'm not gonna lie, I haven't moved from this city since the shit started hitting the fan and I've barely seen a single living person"

"My wife, Lori, she took the photo albums"

"Well, what do you know? My mum did the same thing" we both shared a smile before Rick turned to face me completely, "Where are your family?"

"When things started getting real bad the army said that they'd set up a secure zone in Atlanta, said they had food, supplies, and that the CDC was working on a cure"

"Well that's where my family's gone then!" he said with hope in his voice,

"Far be it for me to depress you but, the radio and television broadcasts have all stopped. I think the safety zone is no longer a safety zone" I murmured as I stood up, "I need to pee, you see anything- come get me, I'll come out swingin'" he didn't show any signs that he'd heard me but I knew he had and I quickly moved into the house.

I was surprised at how Rick was dealing with the situation at hand. If I was in his situation I probably would've blown my own brains out. This world was like a horror story now, we were all characters doomed to fail. As I sat doing my business I heard a boy yelling and the sound was soon followed by a gunshot- I quickly set about righting myself and ran downstairs.

There was a boy and a man that I assumed was his father looking over Rick- trying to question him, whilst Rick lay bleeding from his nose, "Hey! Hey! That's my patient!" the man whirled his gun to face me and I levelled the pistol I'd grabbed from my bag before coming out at his head, "Do you really wanna do this cowboy?" I murmured, I tilted the gun towards Rick, "Check his head- the fever is from his time spent in hospital, not nearly as hot as it would be if he was gonna go Zombie on us" the man, whilst keeping the gun steady placed a hand on Rick's forehead, before calmly putting the gun down. "Sorry about taking the shovel to his face- can't be too careful" I shrugged as I put my gun back in my pack, "It's understandable" I nodded, "I'm Robyn, that's Rick"

"My name's Morgan, and this is my son Dwayne" I shook his hand and nodded politely at Dwayne, "Well, let's move to a more secure location, eh? Night's going to fall soon and I'd rather not be somewhere so exposed"

"We have a place further down the road" Morgan stated.

We distributed Rick's weight between the two of us, "So, are the two of you married?" Morgan asked as we got Rick settled in a bed and I put a blanket over him, "Married?" I choked, "God, no. I met Rick today- I've been moving around town keeping an eye out for people… He woke up out of a coma today. He was injured before any of the Zombie reports came in, woke up today and everything he'd ever known is gone" Morgan looked down at Rick with sympathy evident, "I think he wants to go to Atlanta to look for his wife and kid… I might go with him, Lord knows he's gonna need help."

I prepared some beans over a small fire whilst we all spoke about random, meaningless things. It felt to simply talk about nothing with someone for a while. "Aww sleeping Sherriff is awake! Did you have a nice rest? Morgan here was kind enough to change your bandage" I cooed in a joke-y way, Rick chuckled but gave his thanks to Morgan and Dwayne anyway after having introduced himself.

"Right people, dinner is served, today I have prepared a somewhat underrated feast of beans, beans and beans- don't eat it all at once" everyone took their seats and as we grabbed our cutlery we were interrupted by Dwayne, "Dad, we gotta say Grace" me and Rick looked at each other, I didn't really believe in God, no God would allow things like this to happen. Rick and I held hands anyway.

"Father, we thank thee for this food, thy blessings, we ask you to watch over us in these crazy days, Amen"  
"Amen" the boy said. Me and Rick both mumbled it out of courtesy.

We ate our beans with blatant contentment on our faces. It had been a while since Rick had eaten and so he more or less inhaled the beans, I had eaten earlier but I was still rationing food and was thankful for whatever I got.

After dinner me and Rick set up some bed like structures so that none of us were separated when the Walkers all came out. I was looking forward to being able to have a decent night sleep. Ever since my family had left me I had only slept for a couple of minutes every so often, it was terrifying to think that as I slept alone a zombie would find its way to me and I would get bitten. Though I wanted the horror to end I did not want to end up as one of them. Whenever I watched them I thought about whether they were conscious on some level- whether the souls of the people they were, were still in there somewhere- doomed to walk the Earth seeking out food.

It was horrifying to think about.

I set up my bed underneath the window pane so that I could easily look out the window, whilst Rick set up his up against the sofa opposite me.

Conversation soon turned to Rick and his family, and then me and mine. We didn't dare bring up Morgan and his son's for fear that it would upset Dwayne. I guessed that his mother had probably been lost the infection given how well Morgan seemed to know the symptoms, and how hardened he was against what was happening, it was definitely clear that they had lost someone.

"Why do you keep checking?" Rick asked as he caught me looking out the window again, I pulled away and rested my back against the wall, "I mean, we all want to forget what's going on out there, right? But you… you keep looking, as if you're checking to see that they're real" I gave him a small smile and shrugged, "I used to be in the Army, all that hyper vigilance stuff stuck and I can't seem to turn it off, though, given the current state of the world I think it's a good frame of mind to be in. It's almost second nature to look and know what's going on around me… as well as all the exits" the guys all looked surprised, "You look a little young to have been in the army" Rick commented, eyeing me as if looking for some giant badge that revealed my real age, "I skipped a couple of grades" I murmured, "I joined the army when I was eighteen- I was an army Doctor" the three of them gave small nods and I looked out of the window once more.

As it got later and later Dwayne began drifting off to sleep, and we heard him mumble, "Did you ask him?" to his father, and his father, for all that it's worth cracked a smile and gave a small chuckle. Me and Rick stared at the two of them confused, "We have a little bet going on see… Your gunshot wound… my son thinks you're a bank robber" I grinned at Rick and he grinned right back, before playing along, "That's it. Deadly as Dillinger. Kapow! And Robyn here's my recently- made plucky young sidekick"

"I'll give you plucky in a minute" I murmured in a deceptively sweet voice,

"Deputy Sherriff" he answered truthfully to the question.

"They ate the Sherriff- but at least they didn't eat the Deputy" the two men chuckled whilst Dwayne looked up from his quilt not understanding the reference, "I do believe that is the only time that anyone will ever be able to deliver that line with it making absolute sense. Rick Grimes, The Lone Officer. Oh, the comedic movie references we're gonna have when we go to Atlanta!" Rick looked at me surprised, "You're coming Atlanta with me?"

"Yeah, I figure I'll go see how this safety zone stuff has turned out- you know that I'm entirely sceptical of the idea but I'm willing to humour you for the sake of your family" he gave me an appreciative nod, "Also, someone's got to look at for your ass. Though, I think it may be beneficial sticking with you for a while- I don't think anyone has been so lucky as to go into a coma before the zombie apocalypse and, even after all power has cut out, still manage to stay alive, wake up, and find someone with a lot of guns. You're like a lucky Irish Leprechaun in my pocket. Lord knows, if anyone's gonna find their family it's gonna be you."

That night, I thought I might be able to get sleep, but I couldn't. We spent the night in silence as no one could think of anything more to say. We were hungry but we couldn't eat. We were tired but sleep seemed to elude all but Dwayne who was wrapped up, gently snoring, at his father's side. We were terrified and we could get no comfort…

Also, the guys all stank. It was evident that none of them had washed in a while- Rick of course had been unconscious so I didn't bare too much of a grudge, but, dear God, it was evident that Morgan and Dwayne had been avoiding having to have a cold shower.

I looked at their depressed faces as they stared at nothing and wished they were anywhere but here.

"You guys stink" I mumbled as I moved my head into my pillow to avoid smelling them anymore.

There were about forty zombies outside. As I looked out at them and watched I saw a few that I'd seen before, and a couple I'd even known when they were human. "Ha!" I snorted quietly, "Mr. Feradale… git tried to steal my food when the shit went down. Little prick" I smirked as his head moved as though he'd heard me. I watched as he dismissed whatever it was that had captured whatever it was that had captured his attention and began to move on.

As we all began to relax a little sometime after midnight, we all were set immediately on edge once again when one of the zombies managed to set off a car alarm. I looked out the window and watched as all the zombies turned to face the noise, and began to shuffle towards it. "Even at the end of the world you get hooligans, any minute now a red neck is gonna pop up and start cursing, 'Get off my property, ya vermin!'" I quietly cracked up laughing at my own impression of a red neck. I turned back to see Rick, Morgan and Dwayne staring at me as though I'd gone crazy, "Hey, we all deal with being shit scared differently."

Dwayne soon began crying, loudly and Morgan immediately set about trying to soothe him, "Hey, it's okay" Rick looked at me,

"Car alarm, somewhere down the street"

"It happened before" Morgan said, "It went on for a few minutes… get the lights, Dwayne" we all blew out the candles and turned off the various lanterns that surrounded us which left us in complete darkness.

"Will it bring more of them?" Rick asked, me, Dwayne and Morgan looked at each other solemnly, "There ain't nothing to do about it now, just have to wait 'em out 'til morning." We all gathered by a gap in the curtains, we stared at the Walkers out of the window, "She's here" the boy- Dwayne mumbled, I detected fear and moved the kid back from the window, his father took him from me and allowed the boy to cry into his lap, "Come on, quiet. Shhh, shhh. Cry into the pillow. Can you remember?" me and Rick stared at the scene in front of us, "She, uh... She died in the other room, on that bed... Nothin' I can do about it here... That fever, man… Her skin gave off heat like a furnace... Should have put her down, I should

have put her down, I know that, but... You know what... I just didn't have it in me... She's the mother of my child" I patted the man on the shoulder as I went to lie down again, leaving Rick at the door, "You'll face your demons when you're ready" I stated simply, before laying back down.


	3. Chapter 3

The Sun rose a couple of hours later and the zombies had moved on elsewhere, aside from a few stragglers, one of which was leaning against one of the posts in the front garden.

I made breakfast the next morning- once again it was a delectable feast of beans. I had woken up earlier than the guys so I even tidied up around the place before they woke up, unlike me and Rick Morgan hadn't mentioned moving on to Atlanta so I figured he was staying around here for a while.

When everyone was up and ready to eat we decided to head for the station, there were guns, it was mostly secure and there were radios which could be useful if we wanted to communicate with each other when they followed us to Atlanta.

"You sure?" Rick asked as we kitted him out to take out his first zombie, I patted him on the shoulder, "Rick, my young Padawan- they're dead" the three of them all glanced at me with their eyebrows raised, then Rick, God bless Rick, said, "Young Padawan? I'm older than you"

"Ah, ah, ah, this is the zombie apocalypse, since you only woke up yesterday- you're a day old, which makes me older" I poked my tongue out at him and gently pushed him out of the door,

"Anyway, they're dead" Morgan confirmed, Rick still didn't seem to confident of what he was about to do, "I have to ask, one more time"

"They're dead- except for something in the brain. That's why it's got to be the head."

Rick approached the creature with caution, he held his bat up and me, Morgan and Dwayne watched as the creature drooled and snarled at what it perceived to be its next meal. Rick proceeded to, as the phrase goes, 'bash its brains in.'

We moved quickly to the station, none of us liked the idea of being outside where we were exposed. When we saw the occasional zombie we took it out using bats rather than guns, we didn't want hoards of zombies headed for us.

When we finally reached the station the guys headed for the showers, I elected to go in after them given that I had broken into the station prior to them and had been taking advantage of the hot water. Besides, I was happy to have the stench that the three of them combined created, removed as soon as was humanly possible.

I retrieved my stash and began loading up my two bags so that they were as full as could be and I was still able to carry them. I brought food, a couple of bottles of water- warm, yet clean, toiletries, clothes, a hell of a lot of weapons- I had about seven guns, two of which were rifles, along with two bats and some rope.

When the guys came out and headed to the gun locker I jumped into the shower, I knew it was going to be my last one so I enjoyed it, enjoying a shave with one of the many razors I'd decided to pack. I knew that it was vain to bring razors as they weren't exactly a necessity, but I couldn't stand the thought of being hairy, zombies were bad enough.

As I finished up in the shower the guys were ready to get moving. Morgan and Dwayne were headed back to their building, whilst me and Rick were going to pick up the other bag of food, clothes and weapons from my other base across town on our way out to Atlanta.

"You sure you won't come along?" Rick asked Morgan, as I loaded my gear into the back of the police car, "A few days… by then Dwayne will have learnt how to shoot, and I won't be so rusty" I gave Morgan a smile and pat him on the back before hugging Dwayne, "Well, I hope to see you there" I jumped into the car and watched as Rick handed Morgan one of the radios. The two of them were saying goodbye when I heard snarling coming from my right. I opened the door and leaned on the top of the car before nodding my head at Rick in the direction of the zombie.

"Leon Bessi?" Rick asked as he moved to the gate separating us from the zombie, "Didn't think much of him. Careless and dum… but I can't leave him like this"

"You know, if they hear the shot…?" Morgan started,

"Let's not be here when they show up" I chimed in,

"Let's go son" Morgan ushered Dwayne to the car and I sat back down in my seat, waiting for Rick to get in, I didn't want to be stuck here when the zombies came to investigate the noise.

When we got out on to the highway we knew that it would take us three to four hours to reach Atlanta, whilst we knew we were going to get there come rain or shine, we were concerned as to whether we'd reach our desired destination in the car. Every garage we pulled up to was empty and so we knew we'd only reach about half to three quarters of the way if we didn't get some sort of fuel.

"What do you thinks going to happen now?" Rick asked me, I turned at him with my eyebrows raised, "You're gonna need to narrow down your field of enquiry their Sherriff"

"Now that we're overrun by these zombies" I pursed my lips and glanced out of the window into the fields where every so often I would see a suspicious shape moving around, "We die" I saw him snap his head to face me out of the corner of my eye, "We can try the age old joke of trying to repopulate the Earth by all the survivors having sex with each other but it won't work. The zombies will kill everyone and they will be the heads of the food chain, though, one would think you'd need some semblance of an IQ to reach the status of head of the food chain… All I know for sure is, I'm not going to make it easy for them to get me, I'll die fighting before I let myself become one of them." Rick shook his head, "I don't think that's going to happen. I think people will make a comeback" I cursed and laughed, Rick shot me another questioning glance, "Of all the people I could get stuck with- I get stuck with the World's greatest optimist."

As the city got closer and closer Rick made me call out on the radio- try to contact someone- anyone.

"Hello. Hello. Is there anyone there. Can anyone here my voice? Hello. Hello…" I glanced sideways at Rick, "This is End of the World groupie one with two trying to reach other groupies" Rick slapped me on the wrist, "Officer that is _assault_! I got assaulted at the end of the world by an officer of the law! You disappoint me, good luck re- earning, my love, faith and respect" his lips twitched and he took the radio from me to continue trying to reach someone. When it became clear we weren't gonna be able to do so we gave up, and then the car itself gave up not long after.

We managed to pull up outside an old- looking house, which had a truck in the front yard and figured that the owners might give us some fuel.

"Hello?" Rick asked,

"We're police officers!" I called in, Rick turned to look at me, "Fine, one of us is a Police Officer, the other is an Army Doctor, you decide who to trust!" Rick shook his head at me and approached the property; I stayed with the bag in case we needed to make a quick getaway. I saw Rick look in through one of the windows- when he turned back to me I could tell the news was grim. I turned my head away as I cursed- then I caught sight of something which made me grin, "Officer!" I called, ushering him closer, "I have an idea!"


	4. Chapter 4

"This is a ridiculous idea" Rick stated as I approached one of the horses with a rope,

"This idea is genius and you know that you are in complete awe of it. Horses are easy to find fuel for, they can travel at a range of speeds and- in this time of global warming- they are also bio- degradable" I glanced over my shoulder at Rick with a grin, "Just get on the damn horse."

Once we were up and ready Rick at least managed to get his horse to run off in the right direction. I kept my horse steady and both of my packs balanced on my shoulders. "Come on horse, someone's got to keep an eye on the idiot."

We caught up to Rick eventually just shy of the city, "Right, so Atlanta's fallen" I stated, Rick turned to face me, "This far away- we'd hear people" I clarified, he opened his mouth to try and argue- to know doubt try and someone a sentence to bring hope, but he fell short and nudged his horse to continue going forward. I pursed my lips, and indicated for my horse to do the same.

Rick was in front of me as we moved through the seemingly deserted city, occasionally we saw a zombie or two but we only killed them if they moved too close. We weren't interested in drawing attention to ourselves.

"What the hell is that?" I mumbled when we heard a distant whirring sound, Rick looked up at the sky and I followed his gaze. Needless to say, we were more than a little surprised when we saw a helicopter, "Is that real?" I asked Rick, but even as I spoke he was making tracks. I was about to follow when he turned and a couple of hundred zombies were following him.

"Shit!" I watched stunned as his horse went down and Rick crawled underneath the tank, "Get in the hatch underneath!" my yelling spooked my horse and the next thing I knew I was sprawled on the floor with my two bags on my shoulders.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck" I cursed, I whipped round and judged whether I could get under the tank, I couldn't as was pretty obvious from the zombies trying to get in from both sides. I went to look for anywhere else to hide but the only place was to go back the way we came and take out the few zombies we'd encountered on the way.

I glanced back at the tank and saw Rick just yelling at me to run, he was holding a radio in his hand, before I could yell back to ask him who he was talking to he'd shut the hatch. I made up my mind. I ran.

I regretted what I'd done, I couldn't believe that I'd actually left Rick behind. I wondered what he was doing- what would happen. He wouldn't be able to get out, the zombies would've no doubt surrounded him, and any that hadn't would be munching on the horse, aiming to have him for seconds. Every so often, I stopped and turned as if to see him behind me. When he wasn't I knew that he had to be dead, his luck had run out.

I kept on running even after I reached the outside of the city. I stared out at the road ahead and wondered which way to go, I knew that the noise would attract zombies and so getting off the road would probably be smart. I looked up to the hills, it would certainly be easier to defend myself and the trees would harbour food for hunting when I ran out of my tinned goods.

I found an old beaten path and began walking up, every so often I could make out tracks belonging to a vehicle which led me to believe that someone was still living up here, if they hadn't been followed by zombies and eaten. I didn't see any footprints that indicated that zombies had been up that way so I moved fairly confidently, though I did keep my bat in my hand.

As I got higher and higher into the hills the Sun rose higher and higher and I tied my shirt around my head in order to stop the heat stroke from getting to me. As the Sun began to set however I meandered into the woods to find a tree branch that I could sleep in- safe from any zombies that had left the city- which was exactly what I was doing when I felt a sharp pain in my side. As I looked down and investigated the pain that had just occurred I saw an arrow sticking out of me.

I fell down onto my knees and glanced around the trees, where I saw a dirty redneck emerging with a crossbow, "You fuckin' shot me!" I hissed glaring at me, my words slurring very slightly. He lowered his bow and stared at me coolly, "Need to be careful- could've shot ya in the head in the dark with the noise you were making traipsin' past like ya were"

"Yes, well now- now..." as I spoke I did not notice that my face was coming quite speedily, into contact with the ground.

I felt myself breathing in the dirt and filth on the floor and resisted the urge to puke, knowing that I would then have to deal with having my face in it. I tried to move my arms a couple of times but found I could barely even twitch them. I heard the redneck sigh loudly, as though I'd ruined his plans by impaling myself on his arrow- on the arrow that he'd in fact aimed at me and released in the hope that it would indeed hit me.

For a moment or two I heard nothing then I felt arms settle round me and knew that the redneck had elected not to leave me behind. As he settled me on the ground by a small simmering fire, which I realised he must've set up a little while before he found me, I glanced down at my wound, "It didn't go through" I murmured, he eyed me carefully, "Which means you're going to have to push it through, break the tip, and then pull the rest out" he seemed surprised by my medical knowledge, but did as I told him. Only then did I faint.


	5. Chapter 5

When I began to come to, I felt a searing pain in my side. My eyes clenched even tighter shut as I wiggled, very slightly, in order to minimise the pain. I could feel the heat of a fire close by and I knew that whoever the man was he'd done something that now made the area smell like burning flesh- connecting the dots in my somewhat hazy state I soon deduced that something really rather hot had been used on my wound to stop the blood flow.

I opened my eyes and blinked in order to clear the blurriness away. The man was sat facing the fire and was cooking what appeared to be a squirrel. "Is that-" I started as I tentatively pushed myself up into an upright position, "Is that what I think it is?" the man's eyes flicked in my direction for a split second before returning to the cooking squirrel, "It's a squirrel- if it offends your fuckin' sensitivities don' think I'm gettin' ya anything else" I figured I would eat it, at the rick of the man being pleased by my lack of disagreement, "I'm Robyn"

"Daryl" he hissed, I got the impression that he wasn't a social being.

"Is it just you up here?"

"There's a camp about three hours away from here, 'bout twenty people altogether" he glared at me, and, though I knew I should've been polite and allowed him his silence to think about the mysteries of the universe and hot celebrities or whatever it was that an antisocial redneck was one to think about, my curiosity needed to be sated.

"Why are you so far away?" I asked,

"Huntin' none of them know nothin' and we've caught all the game around there. Been trackin' a deer round these hills back to camp for a couple of days now" I opened my mouth once more but the look he flashed towards me instantly made me close my mouth "We should get back tomorrow with the deer. We'll be heading out to pick up the deer's trail at dawn."

The rest of the night was silent, Daryl checked over where he'd closed the wound, speaking only to tell me that he didn't think there was any internal damage, which, though not entirely comforting per say, gave me the impression that I wasn't going to die. Well. There was nothing to indicate that I was going to die from an arrow wound in the side right now- emphasis on the 'visibly' and the 'right now.' I also got the impression that Daryl would be particularly torn up should I die, even though it would be his fault.

The squirrel wasn't particularly disgusting, it was unusual, but it filled a void. We both sat watching and listening to the cackling of the fire. Daryl regularly glanced into the trees to check for movement, but he'd placed his crossbow, which I'd fondly nicknamed, 'Killer' a nickname I felt it'd earned given the projectile it had shot into my side and could potentially still kill me if there was any invisible internal damage.

We fell asleep at about eleven. We hadn't discussed watches so I figured that Daryl was a light sleeper and able to remain on alert for zombies headed in his direction for a late night feast. It was him that fell asleep first which gave me a chance to examine him across the light of the fire.

He was handsome, not in the conventional way like how celebrities had looked, but in a rugged, very manly sort of way. Though covered in dirt and dirty clothes he was a healthy tanned colour, with dark sandy blond hair. I'd seen that he'd had a tattoo on his back and one slightly peeking out of his shirt on his chest.

I saw him stirring slightly and immediately turned over and went to sleep.

The next morning I was surprised to find that I had managed to sleep the whole night through, an occurrence that very rarely occurred nowadays, despite where I'd slept. Even if I did manage to sleep often the nightmares woke me back up.

"Get up!" I heard Daryl hiss and I felt his boot press down lightly on my wound- an action that did result in an excruciating amount of pain and a loud curse from me. I glared up at him but he soon hauled me onto my feet roughly by my arm.

We didn't eat that morning; Daryl wanted to get going as soon as possible. I was limping severely and carrying my bags which felt a hell of a lot heavier than they had done yesterday. Daryl continually growled at me for holding him up, or making too much noise, I was convinced that through his own stench and dirt he was insulted by my smell and the very fact that he'd dirtied his arrow with my blood. Walking with Daryl, I realised exactly how much I was worth. If we were the last two people on Earth and he'd shot me in the spine with his arrow- killing me, and breaking the arrow- I got the distinct impression that he would mourn the loss of his arrow more than the loss of the only other living person in the world.

We soon found the deer grazing not too far away from where we'd spent the night. Daryl kept Killer focused on the deer ready to shoot it at any moment to get it headed towards camp. I noticed it already had an arrow sticking out of its hide.

Daryl had informed me that we were about half an hour from camp- by that point I was clasping my side in an immeasurable amount of pain. I was desperate for more water but we'd run out about an hour ago, "Daryl.. I need… I need to rest" he glanced back at me and before I could register what he was doing he'd hauled me over his shoulder, bags and all, and was moving speedily back to camp, cursing me each step of the way.

As Daryl walked on we soon heard a scream, and Daryl's head shot up, "Who was that?" I asked,

"Probably one o' the kids. They've got people there watching out for 'em. We'll be there soon" he growled through gritted teeth, I knew that it was getting hard for him to walk with me over his shoulders, though I imagined my bags weighed more than me.

"Woah!" I heard Daryl gasp, I tried to look round him but I didn't have the energy. He ran over to something and began kicking and swearing, I groaned with each movement.

"Son of a bitch! That's my deer!" he yelled angrily, he began squaring up to who I assumed was an old man given Daryl's address of, 'Old Man' before shooting a zombie head.

"Err… Daryl, do you want to explain the girl?" Daryl placed me down on the ground away from the deer, "Found her on the road headed up here" he murmured moving away,

"Bastard shot me with an arrow" I growled clutching my side,

"Robyn?" I looked up and tried to suss out who'd said my name, I gasped when I saw who it was, "Rick? Is that actually fucking you?!" he pulled me into his arms, "You were under the tank! Who the-? What the-? How are you bleedin' alive?" I glanced over his form, "You're not even fucking injured? How did you get out unscathed?!" I clasped his face between my hands and stared at him- as though confirming that he was actually, really there and I wasn't having an arrow induced hallucination.

"How the hell did you get so lucky?"


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up feeling a breeze and purred with happiness. I opened my eyes and found an old guy looking down at me, "Hi there" he greeted, "I'm Dale, you're in my RV"

"Hi" I croaked, Dale passed me a cup of water and I greedily gulped it down, "Thanks."

I took in the man before me. He was wearing a light coloured hat and a bright yellow shirt with a dirty white vest underneath, I wasn't entirely convinced in fact that the vest was white, I glanced around the RV and noticed that my bags had been placed on the bed that Dale was sat on, no sign that they had been searched.

"I checked over the wound, it's not infected Daryl was right to have cauterized it" I nodded,

"Hurts like hell but I'm happy I'm not dying. Could ya help me out? I'd like to sit outside if possible" he nodded and pulled me to my feet, "I wouldn't talk to Daryl if I were you, his brother didn't come back from Atlanta with the others and he's more than a little angry" I blinked at the new found fact that Daryl had a brother, my thoughts briefly side tracking to internally wonder a) his brother was just as attractive, and b) whether he was just as much of a dick as Daryl.

"Right" I nodded and he gently helped me down the steps.

Rick swiftly made his way over with a woman and a boy, "Robyn, I'd like to introduce you to Lori and Carl" I blinked at him oddly,

"You found them?" I glanced at his wife and son, "Oh my God!" Rick laughed and Lori looked questioningly between us, "How do you two even know each other?" she asked, at this the rest of the group looked up- I noticed even Daryl had paused skinning one of his squirrels, Rick noticed the lack of movement also and gestured for me to sit down on one of the logs as everyone else seemed to gravitate towards us.

Rick looked to me and I assumed it was I who would be telling the story.

"Well, ever since the zombies came I stayed in King's County. I knew that going to the city would not be a good move given that resources would soon run out and that zombies would move towards the sound and the smell of the people. I was scoping on a roof of a building opposite the hospital when I saw Rick moving around the hospital, at first I thought he was a zombie, you know? A figure moving around in the hospital… but when I looked closer I realised that he was just some poor fool who'd got stuck, so I went to help him. When we left the hospital we went to his house looking for Lori and Carl, and then we ran into two other guys, Duane and Morgan, a father and his son… they stayed behind to deal with stuff before following me and Rick into the city. My family had long since gone and I knew they were dead but Rick…- Rick just knew that you were still alive, so, I figured, nothing better to do… and the poor chap had no idea what was going on with all the zombies, so I came with him. We ended up riding horseback into the city when the car ran out of gas and that is what ultimately resulted in us getting separated, along with the helicopter" as I said helicopter everyone looked at each other and Rick gently shook his head, obviously he'd had a helicopter argument with them, "Rick more or less rode into a giant herd of zombies- with me on his tail. Both of us fell off our horses- he ended up in a tank, and I got chased out of the city by zombies." I glanced over at Daryl who's eyes seemed to be gleaming at me, "It was when I found your car tracks that I met the wonderful Daryl, when he shot me in the side with an arrow" all of them turned to glare at Daryl and I grinned and winked at him, as he shrugged whilst maintaining looking at me, "His first words to be- and do correct me if I'm wrong Daryl- were, after me initial comment of 'You fuckin' shot me,' was 'Need to be careful- could've shot ya in the head in the dark with the noise you were making traipsin' past like ya were' and thus, a bond was formed, immortalising us as friends" me and Daryl both snorted simultaneously, to the amusement of the group, "Oh wait, it might have been when you burnt my wound shut? Or when you trod on my wound with your foot?" he smirked,

"I wouldn' say any of those- I think the fact I still brought you here through all the trouble you caused me immortalised us as friends- when you kept scaring off the deer, when you drank the last of the water, when I had to carry you and your bleedin' bags for half an hour"

"If you hadn't of shot me, and had taken the time to look properly at me you wouldn't have had to carry me"

"If you hadn't been such a baby you would have managed the last half an hour"

"If you'd of let me rest I could've made it"

"If I'd of let you rest we might've lost the deer"

"If you'd of taken your time you might've been able to get the zombie before it got your deer"

"If I'd have let you bleed out I could've used you as bait to law the walker towards you away from the deer and we would've had a feast tonight- 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'" my mouth gaped,

"Did you just quote Spock?" Daryl smirked and returned to skinning his squirrels. I turned back to the group and the all had small amused smiles on their faces, "What?"

I found out the next morning that Daryl, Rick, Glenn and T-Dogg were going back to rescue Merle in Atlanta. I thought about going with them, but ultimately decided not to, at Rick's wishes to look out for his family whilst he was gone on the rescue mission, his wife, Lori, had been completely against him going but Rick couldn't live with leaving another man to die because of the elements.

Shane had strong reservations against Rick going, Merle, apparently, was not one of the friendliest guys around. I understood his anger, the group needed to be protected. The food was running out in the city, so the 'Walkers' as the group called them, would be moving out of the city, and that meant that the group was now compromised. However, leaving someone to die like that was just not right.

"You come back, you hear?" I said to Rick whilst pulling him in for a hug, he nodded and then continued to talk to Shane whilst I went to go see Daryl.

"Hey Redneck" I greeted as I climbed into the back of the truck, Daryl simply glared at me in response, "I don't care about what your brother is like, just get back here otherwise I am stealing that beautiful truck and motorcycle and coming after you" Daryl cocked his eyebrow in response to my threat, and raised his crossbow onto his shoulder, "You try it an' I really will shoot you in the head, _friend_"

"Then don't give me a reason to" I finished, as I exited the truck.

I didn't really know what to do for the rest of the day, so I grabbed a knife from my bag, found a lump of wood and began carving, as I'd used to do when I was younger. I was about three quarters done when I felt the presence of two people behind me, when I turned I saw that it was Carl and Sophia, I figured that they were bored and wanted something to entertain or distract them.

"What are you doing?" Carl asked, out of the two of them, Sophia was shy and sat the furthest from me, I laughed and showed Carl and Sophia the front of the carving "Can't you tell Carl? I'm carving Daryl" I showed him the front where I'd finished carving, the two of them burst into laughter.

"That's brilliant"

"I think it's the sneer that really captures his personality" I then mimicked it on my own face, "I'm Daryl, and I got a crossbow" the two of them almost fell of the log laughing and I continued carving the back of him.

The kids left soon after and I continued with my sculpting.

It was all calm however until I heard screaming, I climbed up onto the roof of the RV with Dale, "What's going on?" he pointed down into the water and I saw Shane beating the shit out of Ed. Now, I hated Ed, I hadn't been in the camp for long but I could tell that he was scum who beat on his wife and Sophia, but Shane was beating him to death, and that couldn't be allowed to happen. I grabbed one of my guns with a silencer and, before Dale could stop me, I shot down into the sand where Shane was sitting on Ed. I meant to miss. I let loose a shrill whistle so that they looked up and saw it was me, at which point I put down my gun and climbed off the roof.

We had a quiet night that evening. Ed refused to come out of his tent- I'd been made to check his wounds. Apart from severe bruising on his face, which now meant that his outside matched his insides, he was absolutely fine. His pride on the other hand, well, that had been damaged almost quite beyond repair, I had no doubts that as soon as he was able to move without feeling like he'd left half of his face on the floor he would be back to trying to get one over on us.

The next morning Andrea and Amy had gone fishing with Dale's fishing supplies. The group seemed hopeful that they would find something- people were getting fed up of tinned things and we didn't have any squirrels or any other meat to eat. I realised just how much the group depended on Daryl at that moment.

When Amy and Andrea did return they had more than enough fish for everyone, Morales had clapped them on the shoulder proclaiming his joy that his children would eat tonight. I was torn between ecstatic at the news I would be eating something other than bloody tinned beans, and distraught because I hated fish above all other food on the planet.

I ended up with tinned beans that night after spitting out my first bite of the fish.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day the group were all just getting on with various around the camp. This was all disrupted however when I felt Shane's hand on my shoulder, "Hey Robyn- could you come up there with us?" he tilted his head up towards the hills and I saw Jim digging away, "How longs he been up there?"

"Couple of hours" Dale answered as he approached from behind Shane, "We're gonna see what's up- he's refusing to come down" I nodded and placed 'Mini crossbow wielding psychopath' in my pocket, and began following them all up the hill.

"Hey Jim, what's up?" I watched what was happening from behind Jim, he was obviously distressed about something even though he said he couldn't remember why. He'd dug several holes already that looked suspiciously like graves. Shane tried to get him to take a rest but Jim kept refusing to listen. "Come on Jim, one drink and me and Shane will help ya out up here- you wanna dig to China?- we'll help ya out" Jim glared at me before he continued on his digging quest.

Finally Shane managed to get the shovel off of him and they tied him to a tree in the shade and gave him some water to keep him out of trouble. I didn't exactly approve of tying him up near the children instead of putting him in the RV where he could calm down without frightening them, but Shane had spoken and I simply moved away and started cleaning my weapons and clothes.

That night there was something in the air that had me on the edge. I had told and Shane about my 'feelings' and they promised to keep an eye out.

It wasn't until about ten that my feelings became reality. Amy had got up to go to the toilet, and, as she came out, complaining about the lack of toilet paper and a Walker got her. Immediately the group began screaming, I grabbed my weapons and began throwing whatever I had spare to people in the group. I didn't realise that I was being herded towards the edge of the cliff by several Walkers until I felt the Earth move beneath my feet. I turned, and, knowing that it was my only hope I dived off the edge, closing my eyes and hoping that I would land safely in the water.

When I hit the water I felt an immense pain ripple through my body. Water flooded my system and I involuntarily gasped before slowly rising back up to the surface. When I reached the air I gasped loudly and looked towards the shore it was too dark to see anything but I could hear some sinister groaning, but I knew that I had to get back up to help the camp- I didn't know how many Walkers there were so I thought quickly about what to do. All I had on me was a hunting knife so I knew that taking them on was not an option. Unfortunately, the only other way to get back to camp would be to go up the cliff.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." I mumbled as I swam to the rocks. I placed the knife between my teeth and began to climb. I could hear shots being fired and the camp screaming, but I tried to block it all out and picture where I was putting my hands given that I could actually see anything.

The climbing was taking forever, I couldn't tell how close I was to the top until the Sun began to rise, at which point I made the grand mistake of looking down. I could hear the group yelling for survivors, but I was biting down too hard on the knife to be able to respond.

"Where the fucks Robyn?!" I heard my favourite redneck yell, the question merely got the response of, 'I don't know' until I heard one little voice, "She went over the cliff- she was surrounded"

"Carl, are you sure?" Rick asked,

"Yeah."

The response was met by silence until Morales spoke up, "There is no way she could've survived. It's impossible, it's more than a hundred foot drop" I gave a low snort and reached up my hand- when I put it down I felt grass and let out an internal woop of joy.

"What the hell is that?!" I took the knife out of my knife and threw it up onto the ground above, "That's Robyn!" I heard Daryl yell before I heard something hit the ground in front of me and grab my hand. As I was pulled up I felt several more pairs of hands grab both of my arms. As soon as I was back at the top I pulled Daryl into a hug, "Thanks." I felt his arms wrap around me, along with several others- I looked down and saw Sophia and Carl wrapped around me.

I soon got down when I noticed that Daryl was getting fed up, and I saw Amy on the floor by the RV, dead. "Don't ever dive off a cliff again" Daryl whacked me round the back of the head,

"Where's your brother?"

"He cut off his hand and left. We thought he may have come back here. Guess we were wrong" I nodded, "I'm sorry."

Rick interrupted our moment by telling us that we needed to get rid of the bodies- because of the risk of the scent attracting more Walkers. We agreed that the people we knew- even Ed, would be buried in the holes dug by Jim. No one wanted to address the fact that somehow Jim had known, he'd had a dream that this would happen. I was curious, but I figured the burial of our dead was more important.

Dale put me on watch a top the RV. I was kinda useless with the whole lifting things thing after dragging my own body weight up a cliff all night, but the group were all very understanding.

Looking at the group from afar however, I could tell that last night's attack had had a devastating effect. I could see Morales' wife arguing with him, I knew what it would be about.

The group wanted to move, this area was now compromised, we were too close to the city and the Walkers would soon be swarming the hills. This brought it's only problems, the RV was running with second rate equipment that was being made to work, we were low on supplies, so we had two options on where to go- back into the city, as Rick no doubt wanted to go- towards the CDC, the Centre for Disease Control, or to try and get to Fort Benning.

I knew that there were good reasons to go to either location- on the one hand the CDC is the logical place for the army to protect but then again it was very close to the city, which could be more than a little dangerous. Fort Benning was a good choice due to its seclusion and distance from the city but even then all of the soldiers may have been called away to defend the CDC and the city.

I was happy I wasn't one of the decision makers in the group, that seemed to be something that Rick and Shane debated- occasionally interrupted of course by Dale inserting quotes and proverbs, and Daryl hurling abuse at them to make up their minds.

Eventually it was decided that we would go to the CDC, Rick finally won out. I was frightened, from this point on it would be unlikely that we'd ever be as secure as the camp had been. For the few days that I'd lived there I'd felt safe until after the attack. There was easy access to water, there was plenty of fish, there was a dust road that could be used to get in and out of the city when the time came to get supplies.

"Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" Shane looked at the group, I noticed Morales shifting uncomfortably, "We're uh... we're... we're not going" I stared at him and his family. I understood if Morales and his wife wanted to take the risk, as informed adults it was up to them, but they had children. When they stayed with the group our chances of survival were greater- everyone could watch out for each other.

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people" I refrained from snorting, Birmingham would be exactly the same as Atlanta, except there is nothing that the army would've been sent there to defend- chances are everyone would be dead and walking.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back"

"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family" I hugged the two little ones before moving onto Morales and his wife, I didn't approve, by any stretch of what they were doing, leaving the rest of us surely meant death, but I didn't want to part with them on bad terms.

Rick and Shane ended up giving up a gun and a couple of the bullets, once again there was another reason that what they were doing had a far larger negative input than it did a positive. We needed the guns, and we needed the bullets, if a herd of walkers went for Morales and his family the gun would do no good, unless of course Morales was prepared to shoot his children and his wife before himself. Somehow I doubted it.

As we prepared to leave I grabbed my bags and began climbing into the RV when a shrill whistle stopped me in my tracks, "Hey diver" he called, I realised that my little jump off the cliff was not going to be soon forgotten by Daryl, "Your riding with me- don't want you doing anything stupid" I went to ignore him and climb into the RV but Dale shot me a look from the front seat that I should give Daryl a chance. I glared at him and turned.

I threw my bags into the back and then climbed into the passenger seat. "You only want me for the spare string and arrows in my pack" he eyed me sideways before starting up the truck,

"What I want, I usually get, regardless of whether people actually want to give it to me. Besides, with your tendency to get yourself into violent situations, I couldn't trust you not to get yourself bit"

"Bite me, bitch."


	8. Chapter 8

We'd only been travelling for an hour when the RV came to a halt. Daryl hit the steering wheel out of anger and I placed my hand on his arm before climbing out to go investigate. I turned back to Daryl, "The hose has gone" he cursed and got out before slamming the door shut.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose" Dale was saying as me and Daryl approached, "I said I needed one from the cube van"

"Can you jury-rig it?"

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape." I wondered briefly whether I had any duct tape, but I didn't think so.

"There's something up ahead" Shane cut in, "A gas station if we're lucky."

"Y'all, Jim... It's bad. I don't think he can take any more" I turned to look at Rick. Shane liked to think he was the leader but Rick was the one I would listen to. If I was stuck in a shitty situation Shane would leave without a shadow of a doubt, Rick would risk life and limb to keep us all together, and keep us safe. Rick stared back at me and I could tell he was unsure of what we should do with Jim.

"Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead and see what I can bring back" T-Dog immediately jumped in, "Yeah, I'll come along too and I'll back you up" I got the distinct impression that the two of them wanted to go because things were about to get awkward here. "Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back" I still didn't feel comforted by the idea of Shane coming back.

As they left Rick went into the RV to check on Jim I sat with Daryl on the grass, "What are they gonna do, do you think?" he looked towards me, pausing from cleaning his arrows,

"They'll have to leave him- if he's as bad as Jacqui says, it'll be too dangerous to take him with us" I nodded and glanced out towards where Sophia and Carl were laughing about something not too far from us. Dale and Glenn were chatting together outside of the RV and the others were all soaking in the Sun, relaxing whilst the coast was still clear. "Nothing's ever gonna be the same as it was, will it?"

"If you're thinking about staying with Jim you can forget it, I ain't gonna let ya give up"

"No, I'm too stubborn to give in, I was just thinking about the future of the group"

"Well don't. Live each day as it comes, don't worry about yesterday or tomorrow" I laughed loudly, "That was quite profound Daryl, someone give you a proverbs book?" his cheeks flushed a light red and I slapped his shoulder before leaning on him to push myself to my feet. He gruffly shook my hand off once I was upright and I went over to play with the kids for a while.

Rick came out a short time after and told us about how Jim himself had decided he wanted to be left behind, "It's what he says he wants" he told the group of us that had gathered to see what was going to happen, "And he's lucid"

"He seems to be. I would say yes" Dale removed his hat and glanced at Rick,

"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer" we all stared at each other, choosing to leave someone behind was a pretty big decision. It was Shane that voiced this opinion. "We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that" Lori stepped forward,

"It's not your call, either one of you" Well. I guess we were leaving him behind.

As Daryl, Shane and Rick helped to carry Jim to the trees I stood watch next to Carol and Sophia. I knew that this would be difficult for them- the death of Carol's husband and Sophia's death having happened so recently. I saw that Jacqui was crying and I realised that she and Jim had become quite close.

We didn't have the time to say huge long goodbyes to Jim, Dale said a bit, along with a couple of others, the rest of us just gave him a nod, or walked away. I noticed that Daryl, being as polite and thoughtful as ever, was carrying his crossbow in the event that Jim should change whilst we were all standing around. I shook my head at the ridiculous protectiveness that Daryl seemed to have for the group without even realising it. It occurred to me as I climbed in the truck next to him that we were all taking the part of his brother. Before he joined the group it had just been him and his brother, now that his brother was gone... he was filling the void subconsciously. I grinned at him as he started up the van. He stared back at me like I'd gone insane.

We continued travelling non-stop until we reached the CDC from that point. Night was beginning to fall and I found myself hoping, quite desperately, that the CDC was still intact. It would be dangerous for us to be this close to the city after dark, the walkers would swarm and we really didn't have enough fuel to outrun them.

"This is it" Daryl mumbled, I glanced at the building,

"It doesn't look like the army is protecting it" I glanced at the many dead bodies surrounding the building, quite a few of which were soldiers, "They may have been before..." we both climbed out of the truck and I grabbed my bags, if we did manage to get in, which was, of course, our aim, I didn't fancy having to come back and get them. Daryl hissed to me as we got closer to the others, "Watch your back."

We all ran for the doors, as quickly as we could, around us I began to notice small movements and realised that some of the walkers on the floor were still capable of movement. I pulled my baseball bat from one of my bags as we kept moving. As we neared the CDC however it became even more obvious that there was no one inside. There was no noise, or lights, and the shutters were down. This didn't stop Rick from insisting that someone was inside.

As Rick hammered on the shutters and screamed at the camera that he proclaimed had moved, I had my back to the group along with Daryl and Dale, we kept an eye on the things moving around us. Rick's noise was beginning to attract Walkers and I was fully prepared to run if the path to the cars was beginning to get blocked.

Then, to my shock, the doors began to open.


	9. Chapter 9

"Daryl, you cover the back" someone ordered as we ran into the CDC, I was still reeling over the fact that someone was still trying to work at the end of the world. Rick began to order us all to watch the doors in case of Walkers whilst yelling 'Hello!' into the darkness. I waited to see the person that had taken so long to save their fellow man... and woman.

"Anybody infected?" I glanced up some stairs and saw someone wearing a doctor's jacket, and holding a gun in his hand, "That gun can't be beneficial to his career as a medical doctor" I mumbled under my breath, Carl, who was standing close to me, looked towards me and grinned.

"One of our group was" Rick answered, "He didn't make it" I wondered briefly why Rick felt the need to tell the good doctor about someone who was no longer with us, and was in fact about an hour away up the road.

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance"

"That's asking an awful lot these days"

"I know"

The doctor glanced at all of us in turn as though visibly scanning us for the virus, "You all submit a blood test. That's the price of admission" Rick glanced at me and I nodded,  
"We can do that"

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed."

When the Doctor said that, I instantly wished he hadn't. Me and Glenn glanced at each other, everyone had left their stuff behind, and given the fast approaching walkers the group were going to need the two fastest runners, and everyone else would just have to cover them and be prepared to catch the bags as the runners through them to them. Me and Glenn were the fastest runners. The two of us began stripping off anything extra, I took off my jacket, and tightened my boots- Glenn removed his cap and double knotted his laces.

"What are you to doing?" Shane asked us as we began walking to the doors,

"You lot were going to make us run to the cars anyway- we just skipped the part where you begged us to. Just cover us" Glenn sighed.

The two of us began with the two furthest vehicles- I grabbed Daryl's bags from the back of the truck, and he went straight for the RV. The time it took him to get everyone's stuff from the RV there were quite a few Walkers beginning to get dangerously close to us and I was on my last to Shane's car.

"Shut the door! Shut the door!" I called as I got inside- I threw Shane's bags to him roughly and proceeded to high- five Glenn.

Once everyone had their bags the doctor piled us all into an elevator and pressed 'B1.' "Rick Grimes" Rick said as introduction, "Dr. Edwin Jenner"

"Ironic" I commented dryly, Jenner turned to me and gave me a brief smile, the rest of the people in the elevator stared at me, "I'm Dr. Robyn Talon" he shook my hand and everyone's stares increased, "You're a Doctor?" Shane asked, I turned to him confused,

"Yeah... An army doctor, I served my time in the army before the world went to pot"  
"You were in the army?" Jacqui asked, I noticed as I turned to look at her that Daryl was staring at the floor with his brow creased. "Yeah, I got a medal too! And I'm really quite good at being strategic, and evaluating terrain- but I really don't think this is an appropriate time to talk about it" I turned back to Jenner, "Doctors always go round packing heat like that?" Daryl asked,

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough. Except you" he glanced down slyly at Carl, "I'll have to keep my eye on you."

I switched off to the conversation at that point, as we stepped out of the elevator and moved down the corridor, the sight before me took my breath away. The room was circular and there were computers one next to the other. But Jenner was the only one there- except for Vi, whom he demonstrated was a computer program. I realised that the CDC had been deserted, no one had stayed behind, but Jenner, to try and find a cure. I couldn't blame the other doctors, of course, I would've wanted to be with my family too at the end- make sure they were safe.

Jenner took us into a separate lab to take our bloods, he took mine first so that I could take half of the others. As I took Daryl's blood and Jenner finished with Andrea I heard Jacqui speak, "What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." I taped a piece of gauze to Daryl's arm and looked up to find him staring directly back at me, "I'm finished" he nodded and got up from his seat, trying to pretend that he wasn't as exhausted and weak as the rest of us, even though it was only a little blood, combined with the lack of sleep and lack of food, it was quite draining.

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough. All done" Andrea attempted to get up, but stumbled and Jacqui caught her, "Are you okay?" Jenner asked, he stared at Andrea and then glanced round the room, realising all of us were looking peaky, "She hasn't eaten in days" Jacqui responded, helping Andrea to a seat, "None of us have." Jenner looked at us all and gave us a true smile.

"Oh Jenner, if I wasn't so full, I would kiss you" I sighed as I inhaled the scent of my roast potatoes. The group were currently snacking, I'd refused to let them just fill themselves up on crap and promised to make something resembling a good and proper meal. I had some chicken that Jenner had been planning to cook for himself that night, and a couple of vegetables. I made some gravy and was about to bring it out when I heard the group talking.

Earlier I'd heard them asking about where everyone was, and T-Dogg had announced that Shane was a buzzkill- I'd thought that obvious from our first meeting. Jenner had said that there was housing available to us, and that he'd show it to us after dinner.

"We all know pretty much everything about each other..." Andrea said, "But we don't know anything about Robyn" I heard movement in the room cease, "How do we know we can trust her to look after us? Rick what do you know?"

"I know we can trust her- she's looked after us from this point; she saved me. She's an army doctor. Her family left her behind and went to Atlanta and she came with me to find Lori and Carl"

"So, even you don't know that much about her" Lori pointed out. I decided enough was enough. I opened the door with my hip, with four plates balanced on my arms. "I was born on the second of August, I'm a Leo. My favourite subject at school was English, though I was also really quite fond of Drama. I had a brother and a sister and my mother and father were both happily married" I exited the room to grab some more plates- I passed some to Rick who'd got up to help out and then grabbed the last of them, I passed them to Dale, Daryl and myself, "I joined the army at eighteen and served for six years until I was twenty-four. I prefer cats and dogs equally and I have sensitive skin. Was there anything else that you wanted to know?" I asked as I started eating my dinner. We ate in an awkward silence for about ten minutes before Dale began pouring out the wine.

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power- the same rule applies. If you shower, go easy on the hot water" at the mention of hot water everybody turned to face each other. Hot water had been a luxury that many of us had long lived without. The last hot shower I'd had was at the Sherriff's station, and even then it had been brief.

We all raised into the rooms and as soon as the hot water touched my skin, I sighed in pleasure. "That is so good..." I moaned, I washed my hair and saw the mud running out of my hair. I shaved, I hadn't had many opportunities to do so, and felt infinitely better after I had.

As soon as I got out of the shower, I brushed my hair and pinned it up. I put on the only dress in my possession, it was knee length, a light blue and thin. I left my room and went upstairs to get a drink. When I reached the cafeteria Rick, Glenn and Daryl were still drinking, "Robyn?" Rick asked, as he saw me come through the door, the other two looked up drunkenly, as if to verify the claim that it was in fact me who had entered the room. Their eyes widened when they saw me, "I washed my clothes- there drying at the moment" Rick nodded and pushed out a chair for me.

Rick left soon after I arrived to go see Lori, I imagined the two of them were making up for lost time, and said a prayer for Carl, praying that they'd at least found a separate room. Me, Glenn and Daryl continued to drink until I was seeing two more of the two of them and could no longer move any of my limbs in the direction I wanted to go.

"I'm goin'... bed... night" I slid myself off of the stool, and only just managed to stop myself from sliding straight onto the floor, "Come 'ere" Daryl, who evidently had a considerably higher tolerance for alcohol, lifted me into his arms and I hastily wrapped my arms around his neck, weary in case he dropped me. "Don't drop me, 'kay bitch"

"I won't drop ya" he mumbled,

"Good" Then I promptly fell asleep in his arms.


	10. Chapter 10

When I woke up the next morning I found a glass of water on the bedside table along with two pills. I felt sure that it must have been Daryl who left them there, I didn't know where he got them, but I was thankful.

As soon as I was able to function I joined everyone else in the cafeteria- Glenn had his head on the table and T-Dogg was tucking into a plate of eggs. As I sat down Daryl strode in as though he hadn't had an ounce of alcohol the night before. I was insanely jealous.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" someone stated as I tucked into a sandwich, "But you will anyway" Jenner replied with a smile,

"We didn't come here for the eggs."

Jenner led us all back into the main computer centre. "Give me playback of TS-19" he said to Vi, and I watched as an image came up on screen, "Playback of TS-19. Few people ever got a chance to see this" he stated, without taking his eyes from the image himself, "Very few"

"Is that a brain?"

"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end."

I stared at the video as the person died, and then came back. It was amazing to actually see the process of the virus taking over the brain and re-animating the corpse. Then a bright light shot through the image.

"God. What was that?" asked Jacqui- it wasn't Jenner who answered though,

"He shot his patient in the head" Andrea concluded, "Didn't you?" she looked at Jenner as though she was daring Jenner to say that she was wrong, "Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations"

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" I asked,

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal..."

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui chimed in- my head responded with a 'Bull shit' but I kept it to myself when Jenner politely responded with, "There is that."

Jenner went on to tell us about how the power had gone down, and he'd lost contact with all of the other Disease Control Centres. A fact that wasn't exactly comforting. It meant that the virus had had the same devastating effect across the world.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this had been taxing for you, and I hate to ask one more question, but... that clock" I glanced to the clock that was currently counting down on the wall, "It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

I guess that comment was the one that woke us up to the reality of life now.

The oxygen was going to be set on fire as soon as the power run out. The others didn't know this, I only knew because as a Doctor I was well aware of safety procedures of buildings containing virus' such as small pox that could be weaponized.

At the news of our imminent power outage the men all ran to where the barrels containing the fuel were kept. I was going to go with them but I was stopped by Jenner who pulled me into an examination room.

"What are you doing?" he pursed his lips and I got the impression he was thinking about whether or not to tell me something, "I want to check your vitals" I got the sense of urgency in his voice and allowed him to check my blood pressure and the various other things that he wanted to check. I was obviously suspicious, and I thought what he was doing was kind of stupid given that we were all going to die if the guys didn't find anything to generate more power.

After the examination I went to go get my bags but took a quick detour into one of the store rooms.

"30 Minutes to decontamination" Vi said once everyone had gathered back in the main centre, s, "Doc, what's going on here?"

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" yelled Shane, everyone began rushing around in a frenzy- I was nearly at the door when a giant metal block appeared.

"He just locked us in!" I yelled, I turned and saw Jenner talking to his computer, I threw my bag on the floor near the door, cursing as Daryl went to attack Jenner, "Hey, Jenner, open that door now" demanded Rick,

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed"

"Well, open the damn things!"

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way" Rick continued to ruthlessly question Jenner, and all Jenner did was slowly turn to look at me, which, in turn the rest of the group did.

"In twenty-eight minutes we die" everyone's faces morphed into ones of fear, "This place, it contains things that could be used to kill out everyone in the country, in the world... in the event of a power cut, or a terrorist attack certain precautions begin to take place. Vi will shut down everything, and then H. I. Ts will be deployed"

"H. I. Ts?" Rick asked, wiping sweat from his forehead,

"High- impulse thermobaric fuel- air explosives, coexists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000° and 6,000° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired" they all continued to stare at me and I stole a swig of Daryl's drink, "It literally sets the air on fire. I didn't know that we were running out of power, and I didn't know that this would happen otherwise I never would've let us come here"

"No pain" Jenner chipped in, "An end to sorrow, grief... regret. Everything."

As the conversation continued I sat on the steps away from the group. Jenner told Rick all about his wife, aka 'Test Subject 19.' We were running out of time but still Rick kept trying, even though he apparently had no hope. I wanted to live, I didn't want to die here without a fight. I wanted to die killing the Walkers- protecting the people that I had come to love. I was born to fight- it was all I ever really knew.

Then the revelation came. Whilst we'd all been celebrating our new found safety- however false it had turned out to be, Rick had confided in Jenner that he believed there was no hope. That it was all just a matter of time. Rick who'd so passionately believed that we would be able to find a safe place, Rick who'd believed, without doubt, that his family were alive- Rick, who despite all the odds stacked against him had come through with more luck than anyone else, no longer believed we could go on.

I could only watch as Rick attempted to communicate with Jenner that he didn't want to just give up- he didn't want to roll over and die. I had to admit that I did admire Rick's cunning, he knew exactly how to persuade Jenner to unlock that door- by using his wife's words against him.

I was pulled out of my reverie when the metal door slid down into the floor and people began running for the exit, I looked at Daryl, and found that he was staring directly back at me, "Come on!" he yelled. I got to my feet and I ran.

We hammered at the glass windows with whatever we had, I heard Sophia scream that the windows wouldn't open, Shane shot at them and even then he barely scratched them. "Rick, I have something that might help" Carol said as she rummaged through her purse, I glanced down at it wondering what the hell she had that could top Shane's gun, "Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it"

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket" my eyes widened when I saw her pull out a grenade, "Fuck Carol!" I yelled running over to the steps when Rick went to place the grenade by the window, "Pardon my language sweet peas" I said to Carl and Sophia when I landed between them on the steps.

When the window shattered everyone snapped into action, I grabbed the kids, and pretty much threw them out of the window and onto the balcony, "Start running!" I said to them, making sure that they stuck close to me, so I could kill any Walkers in their way.

Once I was sure that they were both safe I ran to Daryl's truck and almost tripped when Daryl grabbed me and hauled me in, "Gently, gently" I murmured hurriedly, as he covered my body with his own.

When the CDC eventually blew up the heat was immense. The Earth seemed to shake, and the only other place I had ever heard that much noise was when I was serving in Iraq.

"It's finished" he pressed the keys to the truck into my hands and sat up straight in his seat.

I wasn't sure where we were driving, I figured that we must've been heading towards Fort Benning but we didn't have anywhere near enough fuel to get us there.


	11. Chapter 11

We managed to get about half an hour, forty- five minutes away from the city when we saw another building, there were a couple of cars nearby that we were going to use for fuel. When it started to get dark we decided that, since the house had been deserted, we would hunker down for the night. We were far enough from the city to remain safe, at least for the night.

"Okay" said Rick, addressing the rest of us, "I want everyone to get a good night rest and two people on watch at a time. Everyone pick a room, the loft has been converted so their should be enough room for everyone. Those on watch, do it from the top of the RV- if you see anything, lay low, if you can get to the house, get in, if you can't use the radio, we'll keep it on all night"

"Won't that use up the battery?" Shane asked, Rick nodded,

"It's a necessary sacrifice, we're short on food and we're short on water so if people can abstain until we find something- do" I grinned at Rick as he turned to look at everyone in turn, "What?" Rick asked, I grabbed my bag, "I may have been a little bit sneaky..." I mumbled before opening my bag. Inside I had a plastic bag which had a couple of hundred AA and AAA batteries, and then I pulled out a couple of small bottles of water, a couple of packs of sweets and three tins of beans. Everyone smiled at me, "You little thief" Shane murmured as he stared at the batteries,

"I am a procurer of valuable goods..." I corrected, "Somehow when there's something that I want, or that I need to get, I find it"

"Why didn't you just get healthy food?" Lori asked, moaning about the sweets,

"I'm sorry, Lori" I started sarcastically, "I thought that with all the out running walkers that we have to do, sugar and carbohydrates might be a good idea..." she glared back at me but didn't say anything else.

That night me and Daryl got paired up for first watch, three hours, five until eight. The two of us were also the ones staying up in the loft- apparently Daryl wasn't the most popular person to bunk with.

The two of us sat silently next to each other on top of the roof, just pondering over what was happening around us. "Hey Daryl" his eyes snapped up to meet mine, "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'T'" Daryl stared at me with a soft glare,

"You're an idiot, you know tha' right?"

"Hey! You're talking to the group provider, here!" I cooed laughingly, he shook his head, "Don't worry, you're still the group hunter, and skinner, and tracker"

"Yippee" he commented dryly.

The rest of the time we spent in silence. Whenever we heard a noise we'd both look to see what it was, fortunately, we didn't see any Walkers, but just because we didn't see them from afar it didn't mean that we were lax in our watching, of course, just because we were on duty, it didn't stop me from eyeing up Daryl.

His muscles were even more defined and I could see hints of various tattoos through the gaps in his top. His hair had grown a little bit longer and I could tell that it was irritating him, as he kept trying to move it away from his neck. "Do you want me to cut it?" I asked him after the movement began to frustrate me, "Cut what?"

"Your hair- I used to cut my brother's when all he needed was a little trim" I pulled a knife out from my boot, and Daryl turned his back to me, I sensed he was somewhat reluctant to do so. I ran my hands through his hair and began cutting away until it was trimmed somewhat neatly, "Turn around, I'm gonna trim the front a little- I don't trust a tracker with hair in his eyes." When he turned instead of continuing to look around me, at the areas that he could see , he stared straight in my eyes, watching me like a hawk without saying a single word.

Once I'd finished cutting I ruffled the hair, and moved away, "Finished, and I think our watch is up" he nodded, took one last look and then began climbing down the ladder.

"Hey, T-Dogg, you and Dale are up" I whispered as I shook his shoulder- once I was sure he was up I followed Daryl up into the loft.

"So, I'm guessing you get the bed" I stated when I saw that he'd got in, minus his trousers and his shirt, he held the cover up for me, "We both need to have a good rest- it's a king size, you get one half, I get the other" I stared at him, checking that he was indeed planning to stay on his side of the bed, I nodded, "I need to get changed first" I opened the chest of drawers and looked to see if there was anything I could change into, I was glad to see that apparently the owner of the room had been female.

I entered the en suite bathroom and changed into the nightie. It was short so I kept my underwear on.

"We never speak about this again" I stated looking to the roof of the room,

"Damn straight" Daryl responded before we both went to sleep.

I woke up to find Carl prodding me in the shoulder, I raised an eyebrow when I saw his grinning face and then tried to work out what he was grinning at. I paused when I discovered what it was. During the night me and Daryl had got considerably closer, so close in fact, Daryl had his arm around my shoulder and I was sleeping on his chest. When I looked up at Daryl he was smirking with his other arm behind his head, "Cheeky shits" I mumbled getting out of the bed,

"Dad said we're heading out in half an hour, if you want food there's some leftovers that we put aside for you" I nodded and went to usher him on his way, "If you don't want me to talk about what I saw..." he held out his hand,

"You little fu-" Daryl coughed and shook his head, "As if you can reprimand me for bad language around the children"

"Well, no, but you are the group procurer, you're a role model" I flipped him the bird and gave Carl a couple of sweets out of my bag, "None of us tell anyone about this" I said pointing a finger at Carl and Daryl, "For now" Carl cooed innocently as he made his way down the stairs, Daryl laughed and I slapped him round the head before running away from him and locking myself in the bathroom to change.

Daryl decided that for ease of travelling he was gonna dump the truck and carry on on his brother's bike. When I exited the house he patted behind him on the bike, "No fucking way redneck" I walked past his smirking face and climbed into the RV. When I saw Andrea, still upset over the failed suicide due to Dale, glaring at, well, pretty much everyone already inside, I exited and jumped on the back of Daryl's bike, "Can it, shit head"

"Sticks and stones, Diver."


	12. AUTHOR'S NOTE

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I didn't like how I'd written the story up until this point so I've gone through and redone all of the chapters.

Also, I'll be updating a lot more regularly from here on out...


	13. Chapter 12

We drove on the main highway, it was easy to drive on and the roads were clear- we'd be able to see any Walkers easily, and there was plenty of time to turn around and hole up until they passed. Me and Daryl were leading the group, on the few occasions when there were a couple of cars grouped together we went through and found the easiest route for the RV. Then we found a particularly large group of cars and the RV's hose gave out again. I jumped off and bent my legs slightly, they were stiff from how I'd been sitting. At least we were stuck somewhere he was bound to find a hose that fit. As the group spoke, I began rummaging through the cars.

"This is a graveyard. I don't know how I feel about this..." said Lori, trying to invoke from the group a reason as to why they shouldn't take things that would make them happier. I snorted. "Have you got a problem with me, Robyn?" I turned,

"Well, you say that we shouldn't take this stuff... do you think they need it? Do you think we don't?We need things like clothes for when ours are so worn that they are no more than rags- you can feel free to roam around butt naked around your son and the rest of us, but don't expect me to. I figure the dead will understand, there's stuff here that we need, that we can use"

"It belongs to the dead! They deserve respect!"

"I respect the dead- I think they're great, I imagine they're really looking forward to seeing you very soon when winter comes and you have nothing to keep you warm... or when you run out of water. Perhaps when you see them you can say, 'Robyn says sorry for taking your stuff, when you were dead, to stay alive'" I stormed away from the group and continued raiding the cars further away.

I scavenged up some more clothes, a couple of pairs of trousers, a leather jacket, boots and a few dresses that I shoved in my bag. I managed to find a couple of knives that I tucked into my belt and an atlas which I figured might come in useful at some point.

When I looked down at my clothes I realised that I desperately needed to change- my combats had holes all up the legs and my top was far too loose. I glanced back at the RV and figured I could change inside one of the cars. I'd managed to pull off my top, and had just got my trousers off when I saw the Walkers coming round the corner. I prodded the dead guy in the front seat to make sure he was dead and then pulled him on top of me to hide my scent from the Walkers.

Occasionally one of them would happen to look into the car I was hiding in, but each one passed on. Once they were gone from my area I pulled on one of the cute little dark green dresses that I'd found and climbed out just in time to hear screaming, "Sophia!" I called, I ran to the group, grabbing knives from the belt that I'd tied round the waist of my dress. There were two walkers chasing her into the forest, I threw one of the knives and it lodged itself in the head of the one closest to her, but the other one was too quick. I saw Rick run after them and grabbed Carol to stop her following.

"Carol, you can't help, let Rick bring her back" I quickly ran to get my bags, particularly the ones with the various weapons and dumped them inside the RV where Andrea was crying against a closet. "Hey" I said, I wasn't sure exactly what to do with crying people and I sat down beside her, "I know you're cut up about your sister, and I know that Dale put you in the worst situation imaginable when he made you save his life but we've got to pull it back together, your sister was a happy, outgoing person. This world would've destroyed her" Andrea's head snapped sharply to face me, "You are stronger than that, she didn't choose death, she chose to fight despite it being against her nature- so you need to fight, succeed where she failed" I patted her on the arm and then got up to join the others.

Rick came back a short time later, saying that he'd told Sophia to run back here after he'd drawn away the Walkers. When he realised she wasn't here he asked Daryl, Shane and Glenn to go back into the woods to find her, "Rick! I can help track, I know how people move in different terrains" I said, hopping over the rail to join them, "Robyn, you've got to help T- Dogg, he tore up his arm pretty badly, we've got Daryl, we'll be fine" I glanced back at T-Dogg who was feebly grasping his bledding arm, trying, unsuccessfully to stem the bleeding, "Okay."

I grabbed one of Dale spare reels for his fishing rod and one of the hooks, and sat T-Dogg down on the step leading into the RV whilst I set up a fire in the middle of a couple of cars so they wouldn't be seen easily by any passing Walkers, and then found Merle's bag of drugs that Daryl kept in the bike, I knew he wouldn't mind me taking some to take away some of T-Dogg's pain. I raided one of the cars and found some Vodka which I poured down T-Dogg's arm making him call out loudly, Carl and the others all flinched. I grabbed one of the thicker sticks and, after making sure it was red hot I pressed it to the wound, preventing it from bleeding out any further. "Alright, T-Dogg, I've cauterized the wound, now I'm gonna sew it up so the chances of getting a fever will decrease more, you need to stay still for me to do so though, okay?" he nodded and I grabbed the hook and wire.

It only took me twenty minutes to sew up the wound, and then I taped some gauze over it.

"You should be okay, the stitches will be in there for a couple of days though, don't you dare pull them" he nodded to show that he was indeed listening very closely to what I said.

We all waited impatiently for the men to get back with news of Sophia,but the hours soon began to pass, and I felt myself getting restless. Unfortunately, the men returned having found nothing.

I slept separate from the group and watched from atop one of the cars for any Walkers, most of the Walkers seemed to have been in the herd, and there were no others over the course of the night. The next morning it was decided that we'd all go out and look for Sophia, everyone except me, Dale and T-Dogg, Rick claimed that it was because someone needed to keep their eye on T-Dogg, but I didn't think that was the real reason.

"Where are you going?" Dale asked when he saw me grabbing my bat, the others had been gone for hours- we'd heard some bells a while ago but they'd stopped soon after, so we didn't panic.

"I'm going for a walk"

"You need to keep an eye on T-Dogg"

"He'll be fine; I gave him a tablet to fight off infection earlier"

"Don't go too far"

"Whatever" I waved away his concerns as I walked further and further away from the group.


End file.
